Social Cognitive Theory
What is observational learning?
Observational learning is the process of acquiring new behaviors, skills, or attitudes by watching and imitating models, rather than through direct experience or instruction.
What is the general premise of the Social Identity Theory?
The theory suggests a person has multiple identities, and their self-concept is partly based on their membership in different social groups. In a given situation, the most salient identity will influence behaviour.
What are stereotypes?
Stereotypes are widely held, oversimplified, and fixed beliefs about a particular group of people. They can be positive or negative and are often based on limited information or assumptions. While stereotypes can help simplify social processing, they often lead to distorted thinking, prejudice, and discrimination.
What are Hofstede's cultural dimensions?
Cultural dimensions are a framework of categories that help compare how values and behaviors differ across cultures and countries.
Each dimension represents a continuum (e.g., from individualism to collectivism), allowing for meaningful cross-cultural comparisons rather than rigid classifications.
What is self-efficacy, and how does it influence behavior?
Self-efficacy refers to an individual’s belief in their ability to successfully perform a specific task or handle a particular situation.
It is not about general confidence, but rather a task-specific sense of competence. For example, someone might have high self-efficacy in public speaking but low self-efficacy in solving math problems.
Self-efficacy significantly influences whether individuals attempt to reproduce behaviour or not.
What are the three core processes in Social Identity Theory?
Social Categorization - This is the first step, where we mentally classify people into groups based on shared characteristics such as nationality, religion, age, or profession.
Social Identification - In this stage, we identify with specific groups, forming our in-group and begin to internalize our group membership as part of our self-concept.
We adopt the social norms, values, and behaviors of the group we identify with.
The stronger the identification, the more likely we are to conform to group expectations.
Social Comparison - After identifying with a group, we compare and compete with other out-groups to maintain or enhance our self-esteem.
- In-group favoritism
- Out-group bias
- Out-group homogeneity
- Positive distinctiveness
How do Social Identity Theory and out-group homogeneity explain stereotype formation?
According to Social Identity Theory (Tajfel & Turner, 1979), individuals derive part of their self-concept from their group memberships (e.g., nationality, ethnicity, school affiliation). This creates a distinction between the in-group (us) and out-group (them), leading to:
In-group favoritism: Viewing your own group more positively.
Out-group homogeneity and out-group bias: Viewing other groups as more homogeneous/similar and negatively/inferior.
This links directly to the out-group homogeneity effect, which is the tendency to perceive members of the out-group as more similar to each other than they really are. In contrast, in-group members are seen as diverse and unique.
Then if we encounter one person from the out-group, we assume that person's behaviour, performance, etc is representative of all other members belonging to that group.
What is the difference between individualistic cultures and collectivistic cultures?
Individualism-Collectivism is 1/6 dimensions that describes the degree to which people see themselves as independent individuals or as part of a larger group.
Individualistic cultures (e.g., USA, UK, Australia): Value personal freedom, autonomy, and self-expression. People prioritize personal goals over group goals. Identity is based on personal achievements.
Collectivistic cultures (e.g., China, Japan, Mexico): Emphasize group harmony, loyalty, and interdependence. Identity is rooted in social roles and group membership.
What are the four cognitive conditions required for observational learning to occur?
Attention – The observer must first pay attention to the model. People are more likely to pay attention to models they perceive as similar to themselves, admire, respect, or see as competent.
Retention – The observer needs to mentally store the behavior. This involves creating a mental representation of what was observed so it can be recalled later.
Motivation – The observer must be motivated to imitate the behavior. Motivation can be influenced by direct reinforcement (e.g., being praised), vicarious reinforcement (observing someone else being rewarded), or intrinsic factors like personal goals or a sense of self-efficacy.
Reproduction – The observer must have the physical and mental capability to reproduce the behavior. This may require practice or feedback, especially for complex actions.
What is positive distinctiveness?
Positive distinctiveness refers to the motivation to make one’s in-group appear superior to relevant out-groups, to enhance self-esteem. This is usually achieved by in-group favoritism, attributing positive characteristics to the in-group, and out-group bias, attributing negative characteristics to the out-group, maximising the difference between the two.
What are stereotype effects and what are the two main effects?
Stereotype effects refer to the ways that being aware of a stereotype about your in-group can influence your behavior, often unconsciously.
Stereotype threat is the fear of confirming a negative stereotype about one’s group, which can cause anxiety and impairs performance on relevant tasks.
Stereotype boost occurs when awareness of a positive stereotype about one’s group enhances performance.
What is uncertainty avoidance? What is the difference between high UA and low UA?
Uncertainty avoidance is a cultural dimension that refers to how comfortable a culture is with ambiguity, uncertainty, and unstructured situations.
High uncertainty avoidance (e.g., Greece, Japan, France): Prefer strict rules, formal procedures and traditions, and planning. People may feel anxious in uncertain situations and resist change.
Low uncertainty avoidance (e.g., Singapore, Denmark, USA): More open to change and ambiguity. People are comfortable taking risks and may tolerate differing opinions and flexible rules.
Why might reinforcement not be necessary for learning to occur, according to Social Cognitive Theory?
Because individuals can learn simply by observing others being rewarded or punished (vicarious reinforcement), without directly experiencing it themselves.
How do individuals cope with negative social identity or low group status?
1. Social Creativity – Changing the basis of comparison to emphasize positive aspects of the in-group.
2. Social Competition – Directly challenging the out-group’s status to change the power hierarchy.
3. Social Mobility – Leaving the low-status group and trying to join a higher-status one.
What is spotlight anxiety, and how does it relate to stereotype threat?
Spotlight anxiety is the heightened self-consciousness and fear of being judged that occurs when individuals believe they are being closely observed, especially in situations tied to a negative stereotype.
It’s a key mechanism of stereotype threat, as it increases nervousness or anxiety and distracts from performance.
It also results in a self-fulfilling prophecy as the resulting negative performance is supporting evidence of the negative stereotype.
How do cultural dimensions influence human relationships?
Dion and Dion (1993) - Influence of IND and COL on love and intimacy
Individualistic cultures tend to emphasize romantic love, personal fulfilment, and emotional intimacy as central to marriage and relationships, influencing marital satisfaction and personal wellbeing.
Collectivist cultures prioritize family obligations, group harmony, and social roles over individual emotional needs in the formation and maintenance of relationships. Individuals in collectivistic cultures may show care through actions and loyalty.
While individualistic cultures value emotional intimacy and romantic love, certain characteristics such as the emphasis on independence, self-sufficiency, personal achievement and personal satisfaction may act as barriers to achieving intimacy and love.
Ueki (1997) - Influence of uncertainty avoidance on development of romantic relationships
Participants from Japan, a high uncertainty avoidance culture, tended to prefer structured relationship progression, clearer roles, and formal stages such as group dating, reflecting cultural discomfort with uncertainty. They were generally less comfortable with emotional ambiguity, showed more indirect communication styles, and placed more value on predictability and security in relationships.
Participants from America, a low uncertainty avoidance culture, were more comfortable with informal dating, open communication, and ambiguity in romantic development.
How did Bandura's Bobo Doll Experiment demonstrate Social Cognitive Theory?
The Bobo Doll Experiment demonstrated Social Cognitive Theory by showing that children can learn aggression through observation.
Attention - The children had to notice the adult's behavior. The novelty of the Bobo doll and the model’s exaggerated, dramatic actions likely captured their attention.
Retention - Children remembered the specific aggressive behaviors and phrases. The replication of exact actions (“Pow!” or hitting with a mallet) showed that these behaviors were encoded and stored.
Motivation - Motivation was influenced by vicarious reinforcement. In the original study, there was no consequence to the adult's behaviours, this can reinforce the children's motivation to reproduce the aggressive behaviour.
Reproduction - The children were physically and cognitively capable of reproducing the aggression. The behaviors were within their motor ability and did not require advanced skills.
What did Park and Rothbart’s (1982) study on sorority members find, and how does it support Social Identity Theory?
Park and Rothbart found that sorority members rated their own sorority more positively and viewed members of other sororities as more similar to each other (out-group homogeneity effect).
This supports Social Identity Theory by showing the three processes in effect. Social categorisation has naturally occurred as members belong to different sororities and social identification happens through initiation ceremonies, living together and adopting the social norms and values of the sorority. Finally, social comparison is evident through the in-group favoritism and stereotyping of out-groups, driven by the need for positive distinctiveness.
What did Shih et al. (1999) find about stereotype boost and threat in Asian-American women?
Shih et al. found that Asian-American women performed better on a math test when their Asian identity was made salient (activating positive math stereotypes), but performed worse when their female identity was highlighted (activating negative math stereotypes).
In the gender identity group, the negative stereotype that girls are not good at math was likely activated, consciously or subconsciously. As a result, participants may have experienced increased spotlight anxiety, which distracts their working memory, negatively impacting performance.
This shows how stereotype boost and threat can affect performance depending on which identity is activated.
Which other research studies could be used to support the influence of cultural dimensions?
Chiao and Blizinsky - IND/COL's interaction with 5HTT serotonin transporter genes and the development of depression.
Kulkofsky et al. - IND/COL influence on the rate of flashbulbs memories in five countries - Germany, UK, USA, Turkey, China